Global Integration Updates
Common Ground for the Common Good
Special News--April 2019
Keeping Up with the UN
Tools for Tracking UN News
“We must recognize that in some fundamental ways, our world is going backwards. More countries are experiencing violent conflict than at any time in nearly three decades. Record numbers of civilians are being killed or injured by explosive weapons in urban areas. Record numbers of people are on the move, displaced by violence, war and persecution. ...These are all indications that we need greater unity and courage – to ease the fears of the people we serve; to set the world on track to a better future; and to lay the foundations of sustainable peace and development.” UN Secretary-General António Guterres at the UN General Assembly’s High-level Meeting on Sustaining Peace, 24 April 2018
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In this Update we feature several ways to stay current with UN news. Online access is easy. But navigating the wealth of information is a challenge--yet easier once you review the options and then prioritize the types and sources of information you want.
We also include our Global Grid (GI Framework). It can also help you stay updated with the global context (including the UN) as well as your own core emphases/interests.
Information alone does not change the world, of course. But informed action by people working together with competence, character, and compassion surely helps!
Warm greetings from Geneva,
Kelly and Michèle
Featured Resources
Keeping Up with the UN
Tools for Tracking UN News
Given the massive amounts of UN activity,
and our world's major overlapping issues--problems without passports--
the goal may not just be staying more informed but, frankly, staying "less uniformed."
Tracking with the global context is an ongoing challenge.
UN Web TV: The United Nations Live and On Demand. “The UN Web TV Channel is available 24 hours a day with selected live programming of United Nations meetings and events as well as with pre-recorded video features and documentaries on various global issues.” Many of its materials are available in the six official UN languages: Arabic, and Chinese, English, French, Russian, Spanish (e.g., see the Videos on Demand section). Example of a recent meeting at the Security Council: Preventing and Combating the Financing of Terrorism.
UN Week in Review. A snapshot of some noteworthy events from the UN the past week. Each weekly report is one minute. The archived videos go back five years. Example HERE.
UN News: Global Perspective, Human Stories. “ The United Nations Department of Global Communications is pleased to launch a new one-stop, multimedia news portal: UN News. The changes made are the results of an intensive research on the use and needs of our audience. We want UN News to be the entry point that can help you navigate the work of the United Nations easily, whether it is on peace, development or human rights, refugees or nuclear weapons, and discover the human stories behind it. We also want you to quickly access top news stories, special reports, magazine programmes, feature pieces and human-interest stories with elements of audio, video, graphics and text, for a complete multimedia experience.” Example: the World Meteorological Organization Statement on the State of the Global Climate 2018 and the video of the recent briefing/launch of this Statement (28 March).
Department of Global Communications through its Civil Society Unit sends out weekly Announcements of upcoming events and other news items. “Through advocacy, media and outreach, UN Department of Global Communications Civil Society Unit collaborates with civil society globally to spread the UN's mission and develop stronger partnerships." The Announcements are oriented for Civil Society representatives to the UN but other colleagues are welcome to receive them too by email. Subscribe HERE.
UN YouTube Channel. “This Channel features videos on a wide range of global topics including current news, peace and security, social and economic development, human rights, climate change and more.” It includes hundreds of videos of the last several months. Example of a recent video report: Cyclone Idai which devastated southern Africa.
UN Year in Review: 2018 in Photos “ Take a look back at 2018 in UN photos. Bangladesh. Czech Republic. DR Congo. Liberia. Mali. Morocco. Republic of Korea. Somalia. South Sudan. Switzerland. On Syria. On Yemen. Youth empowerment. Water. Sustainable Development Goals. Science. Refugees. Peacekeeping. Migration. Indigenous issues. Human rights. Gender Equality. Flooding. Disabilities. Elections. Elderly. Children.” Previous Years in Review are done as videos. Example: UN Year in Review 2017
More information on the United Nations HERE. Above, for example, is the UN System Chartwhich begins (left side) with the six UN Principal Organs: General Assembly, Security Council, Economic and Social Council, Secretariat, the International Court of Justice and the now suspended Trusteeship Council. (Enlarge it for easier reading.)
Application: Creating Your Grid
Tracking with the global context and your core emphases
Source: GI Update October 2016
Note: The material above about sources for UN News
is relevant for item one in the grid below, under "Context Resources."
 "This grid is designed as an orientation framework to facilitate your global understanding across sectors and to help you track with your areas of emphasis. It is organized into two main sections. The first section, Context Resources (Global Multi-Sectoral, GMS) features several representative reports on global issues. The second section, Core Resources (Global Personal Emphases, GPE) includes several representative categories that you can adjust and fill in based on your interests and involvements."
"Colleagues can be both guided and goaded by their GI Grids via the specific context and core materials that they include. We think that the girds reflect the unfolding reality that ‘the context is crucial for the core’ – that is, understanding the global context (e.g., the 17 SDGs) is essential for working effectively in one’s core emphasis be it a discipline, organization, sector, country, specific issue, or an individual SDG or SDG Target(s)."
Source:
--Global Grids: New Strategies for Staying Informed (GI Update October 2016
See also:
--Seven Sectors–Short Summaries ( GI Update February 2019)
--Staying Current–Navigating the News ( GI Update December 2015)
Member Care Associates Inc. (MCA) is a non-profit, Christian organization working internationally from Geneva and the USA. MCA's involvement in Global Integration focuses on the wellbeing and effectiveness of personnel and their organizations in the mission, humanitarian, and development sectors as well as global mental health, all with a view towards supporting sustainable development for all people and the planet. Our services include consultation, training, research, developing resources, and publications.
Global Integration is a framework for actively and responsibly engaging in our world--locally to globally. It emphasizes connecting relationally and contributing relevantly on behalf of human wellbeing and the issues facing humanity, in light of our integrity, commitments, and core values (e.g., ethical, humanitarian, human rights, faith-based).
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